Sir Elton John is currently Down Under on tour in Australia. He was persuaded to take 6 hours out of his busy schedule to pop over from Melbourne, with his entourage of 28, for an extra concert in Wellington, New Zealand.

A list of Sir Elton’s requirements preceded him, as did his grand piano protected by a quilted cover emblazoned with the huge upper case letters of his name - er, not forgetting the SIR, of course. Apart from the kind of decor for his dressing room and hotel suite, his list of requirements included an order for certain flowers that he would like adorning both. Sir Elton flew over by private jet late afternoon, performed the 2 hour concert, and then immediately flew back to Melbourne.

Now for the little matter of the flowers. It seems that Sir Elton is rather fond of them, and simply must have them wherever he goes. The order came through: long-stemmed red roses and white peonies for the dressing room, and an “explosion of colour” for the entertainment room at the stadium. But just as the lucky florist had put the finishing touches to the display, a new order came through. Sir Elton had changed his mind. He wanted instead short-stemmed roses placed in small square glass containers to appear as a “hedge” lining the walls. The florist dashed around looking for enough small, square glass vases to hold about 100 short-stemmed roses. But then, once the hedge was installed and the requested colour “explosion” was completed, yet another message arrived to say that all the flowers were to be stripped bare of leaves. So… the flowers were all stripped bare of their leaves. Then would you believe it? Sir Elton changed his mind again. The “explosion” of colour was to be changed to a monochromatic scheme - different tones of the same colour - and instead of being “staggered” the display was to be ball-shaped.

By this time the lucky florist was practically crying into her cellophane. As she put it herself, “This is not Covent Garden or Alsmeer in Holland. This is little old Wellington where the Wednesday flower market is very small. But with the market manager going the extra mile, we basically cleaned him out and managed to get enough cream and green flowers for the huge bouquet.” With immense relief the lucky florist finally completed the works of floral art about one hour before Sir Elton walked into the dressing room.

He was presented with the perfect gift for one who is far more important than a florist - a 10″ tall figurine, a statue of himself.
I heard he was delighted.